Rack for presses



(No Model.)

C. lKERR. RACK FOR PRESSES.

Patented ont. 1a, 1896.v

A UA AUAB BAU/A# ,AA /V/ i E E /////////////////r A A A U UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CIIARLES KERR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO JEROME E. DAVIS, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

RACK FOR PRESSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 569,502, dated October 13, 1896.

Application filed November 18, 1895. Serial No. 569,328. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES KEER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Racks for Presses, which are fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawingshforming a part thereof.

to This invention relates to racks used in presses to separate and retain the bags or straining or filtering cloths in which pulp or other material containing liquid is inclosed for the purpose of expressing the liquid through the filtering-cloths in a manner well understood in the art.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of my improved rack, showing the wooden bars partly broken away to disclose metal sheath- 2o ing-strips with which the inner surfaces of the bars are faced. Fig. 2 is an edge elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail elevation at the line 3 on Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale. Fig. i is a section at the line 4c et on Fig. l.

It is well understood that racks of this character are used in presses for such purposes as cider-making and pressing malt and other pulp of various sorts either for the purpose of forcing out the water and retaining 3o the solid substance or obtaining the juice, the solid substance being refuse, the pulp or other substance to be pressed being' inclosed in sacks or iltering-cloths, which are piled up upon the press alternating with the 3 5 racks, the purpose of the latter being to retain the pile in shape and to distribute the pressure equally' through the entire mass, which is thus subdivided into layers, each layer being subjected to the desired pressure.

4o The pressure employed being often several hundred pounds to the square inch and the substance in the filtering-cloths causing the latter to bag or settle in loops between the bars of the racks when the pressure is applied, such pressure being transmitted by the liquid contents in the bags or sacks, according to the law governing such press u re,equally in all directions, the force operates in the loops or depressions between the cross-bars of 5o the racks with a sideward as well as a downward pressure. and tends, therefore, to strain the racks laterally, eventually forcing the fastenings at the intersections of the bars, and in time, the wood being more or less deteriorated by repeated saturations and dryings, this sideward strain tears the racks asunder, the rupture occurring most frequently somewhere near the middle, though any weak point will give way. An attempt has been made to remedy this difficulty by 6o the use of metal racks made of strap-iron. A new difficulty then arises from the fact that the metal bars tend to bend between the intersections and soon become too much distorted to be serviceable, and also are liable to crack from the bending, especially as is likely to happen if they are reversed in position at different instances of use, so that the strips are bent back and forth over the edges of the intersecting bars until they crack at such 7o edges, and then are liable to cut or tear the filtering-cloths in handling. To overcome this difficulty and remedy this defect in racks as now constructed is the purpose of my present invention.

A A A A are wooden bars, which may be from two inches to four inches in width and from one-quarter to three-eighths of an inch thick. They constitute the principal framework ofthe upper side of the rack. B B B 8o B B are similar bars extending transversely to the former and constituting the lower section of the rack. In addition to the upper bars A A, &c., the rack comprises any suitable number of narrow bars A' A', ttc., which 8 5 are placed at intervals from each other and from the wide bars equal to about one-half the width of the narrow bars. In -practice these named bars, being about one inch wide, are placed one-half inch apart. This upper 9o system of bars constitutes the supportingsurface for the bags or filtering-cloths filled with material to be filtered, which alternate with the racks inthe pile to be pressed. The bags are not shown, as they do not constitute part of my invention, only pertaining to its use. Instead of securing these upper and lower series together in the ordinary manner by nailing them together where they cross, I employ metal straps C C, ttc., in connection roo with each of the bars A A, such straps eX- tending the entire length of such bars upon their lower faces and being folded down around the outside bars B B, as seen in Fig. 3, and thence back upon themselves far enough to be engaged under the second bar B from the edge, theend of the strap being there secured by the fastenings employed at that intersection. ln like manner each of the bars B is provided with a similar strapD upon its upper face, such strap being folded up at the end of the bar D and entirely around the outermost of the upper system and back under one or more of said bars, in order that the end may be securely held by the fastenings at the several intersections to `.vhich it is extended in the return-loop shown at D. These reinforcingstraps C and D, having a longitudinal tensile strength suieient to resist the spreading caused by the pressure transmitted laterally through the material which is being pressed, retain the rack in form and save the Wood from the tensile strain which otherwise ruptures it, as described, and the life or period of eiciency of racks constructed with such reinforcing-straps associated With the Wooden bars is many times that of Wooden racks constructed Without such reinforcement.

l claim- In a rack for presses in combination with Wooden bars arranged in two series transverse to each other and suitably secured at their intersections; metal straps extending length- Wise of the bars upon their proximate faces; the straps extending in either direction being folded over the outermost of the bars extending in the transverse direction whereby the pressure tending to separate laterally the bars of each series and to strain longitudinally the bars of the other series is opposed by the tensile resistance of the metal straps; substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two Witnesses, at Chicago, Illinois, this 15th day of November, 189,5.

CHARLES KERR. lVitnesses:

A. C. HAVEN, F. SPECHT. 

